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gas tank and grill installation

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maxwedge5281

maxwedge5281

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as many may know i have been trying to make my v8 healey bn6 two seater a bit more healey in appearance. i bought a used gas tank to replace the fuel cell in the rear. the tank i bought has a dropped section at the front of the tank which would appear to drop through an opening in the trunk floor. my 1959 bn6 does not have that opening. what year was the opening in the trunk? and if there was an opening i will have to cut my trunk floor to use this tank! also my bn6 grill is not in very good condition and i like the vertical grill from the later cars such as the bn7. will a vertical grill fit into the opening or will it require that i replace the two piece grill surround. as always your thought and ideas are very much appreciated...
 
The BN-2s had that cut out for the sump (my '56 has it). What I do not know is if it went away in 1956 when they stopped BN-2 production and started the 100-6 cars.
 
My 1960 BT7 has the cut out in the trunk floor so I imagine your 1959 had it also. Although the trunk configuration in a 2 seater is different than a 4 seater so I can't be sure.
 
I have restoration photos of a 1960 BN6 I was thinking of buying at one time, they show the opening at the front of the boot floor. If I where you, I would examine the closed area for a previous owners crude butchery and amateur workmanship to confirm your suspicions of a cover up! :hammer:

As far as adding a later grill to your early 59 bn6 I guess anythings possible after seeing someone install a grill upside down on a 1962 tri-carb on last weeks thread, all depends if you are a good contortionist!
 
BJ8's accommodate that tank shape too
 
It is possible to use the later vertical grill with the earlier cap and chrome lower strip. See photo of a 100 with a six cyl. front shroud done just that way. Photo from Britfest 2014 seen in this forum.
 

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British_Recovery said:
It is possible to use the later vertical grill with the earlier cap and chrome lower strip. See photo of a 100 with a six cyl. front shroud done just that way. Photo from Britfest 2014 seen in this forum.
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Hard to say for sure, but it looks as if that car also has the later grille surround parts, with the one piece oval and separate brow.
 
I have the gas tank out of my '63 BJ7. I can take all the pic and measurements that you need. Just let me know.
 
could you measure the size of the opening. and does it have a lip turned down. a pic would be very nice.. thank you very much!
 
Does your nastyboy have the original rear frame rails and crossmembers? If so the size of the opening is determined by the rails and rear crossmember.
 

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yes the rear is the same...but the car had a fuel cell and the opening had been welded up or replaced. ill check and see if a panel has been welded in. it appears that the entire trunk floor was replaced sometime over the years...no obvious welds in that area of the trunk. i almost hate to cut the opening!
 
The only real reason to have it open is for access to the drain plug. If you don't care about that, you could always just cut an "x" through the opening and push it down enough to clear the tank and weld up the cuts leaving the floor solid and not open to the elements.
 
i ordered a new gasket for the body to gas tank from moss. i think i will wait until it gets here before i decide to modify the trunk floor. thanks to each of you for you ideas, suggestions, and pics! now a new thread and on to another problem....gas tank filler!
 
i got a new gasket from moss. when i put it in place the gas tank fitting on top of the tank is almost one inch too high for the opening in the body.......unless i can compress the gasket which is cut on a taper i might just make a new gasket. i would still like to know the opening size....which i cut to fit the dimensions of the gasket! and, are the edges of the opening level with the floor of the trunk or lowered to allow the gasket to seat into a cavity! thanks for all the comments and suggestions thus far!
 
dale,thank you very much!
 
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